Parshat Bamidbar  29 Iyar5762, May 11 2002

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - The State and citizenry of Israel is going through one of the most difficult periods in its comparatively young history of difficult periods: suicide bombings, drive-by shootings, and the opprobrium of the European and United Nations communities when we finally strike back with military incursions to dismantle the enemy terrorist infrastructure. Despite the tensions, a recent Maariv poll reported that 83% of the Israelis would rather live in Israel than any other place in the world, and the heightened morale of our populace can be proven by the fact that this last call-up for reservists boasted of a 130% response! Nevertheless, while we can only applaud and marvel at the resolute courage of our nation, the nature of the "situation" we are living under compels us to query: Is it permissible for an Israeli to forsake his homeland in time of danger? And what are the obligations, if any, of diaspora Jewry towards our common Jewish homeland?

A good part of the answer to our question can be found in the Scroll of Ruth, the magnificent book which is read on Shavuot, the Festival of First Fruits. The Biblical text opens describing the aristocratic Elimelekh, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion, who - because of a famine in Israel, - leave the poverty stricken Bethlehem (lit. the House of Bread) for the greener fields of Moab; the boys marry Moabite wives, and tragically Elimelekh, Mahlon (lit. illness) and Kilion (lit. destruction) die. The midrash explains the reason for these untimely deaths: they abandoned the Land of Israel.

The Biblical words of the Scroll of Ruth echo the tragedy which struck Abraham at least one thousand years earlier when he too left Israel in time of famine; his beloved wife Sarah is taken into Pharaoh's harem, and were it not for Divine intercession, Jewish history would have ended almost before it began (Genesis 12:10). In Abraham's case, the text records the famine twice in the same verse, specifying the second time its severity (whereas regarding Elimelekh the famine is mentioned only once), and stipulates that Abraham only intended to journey (lagur) in Egypt (whereas Elimelekh "remained" apparently to settle in Moab); nevertheless, the Rabbis attribute a "great sin, albeit an unwitting one" to Abraham and Sarah in leaving Israel (Ramban, Genesis ad loc). It goes without saying that the most negative result of Elimelekh's "yerida" or descent from his national homeland is that his sons marry Moabite women and are thereby "cut off" from Jewish posterity and continuity!

The great 11th century Sage and halakhic decisor Maimonides rules unequivocally: "It is forever forbidden for anyone to leave Israel for the diaspora unless it be a (temporary trip) for the sake of studying torah, marrying a woman, saving himself from enemy Gentiles, or doing business - but he then must return to Israel. Dwelling outside of Israel is forbidden unless there be a most severe famine... and even in such an instance, even though it may be permissible to leave it is not a pious trait to do so; after all, Mahlon and Kilion were leaders of their generation who left because of great suffering, and nevertheless they were punished with destruction before G-d..." (Laws of Kings 5,9).

What exacerbated the sin of Elimelekh and his sons was the fact that they could have alleviated the suffering of their fellow countrymen had they remained in Israel; the Midrash Yalkut Shimoni therefore depicts their transgression as an escape from responsibility: "Elimelekh was among the leaders of the nation and the benefactors of his generation. When the famine arrived, he said: 'Now all the Israelites will surround my door.' What did he do? He fled from before them."

What clearly emerges from the Scroll of Ruth is that leaving Israel in time of danger is not only further weakening our homeland but is placing oneself at even greater risk of extinction - if not for starvation or a sniper's bullet then due to intermarriage, assimilation and eventual extermination from the annals of Jewish history. The family line of Elimelekh was saved only when one daughter-in-law, Ruth, returns with her mother-in-law Naomi to Israel - and there secures the ultimate redemption by becoming the great-grandmother of David the son of Jesse. Survival is always problematic in the Exile - and redemption is only possible in Israel.

The prohibition against leaving Israel takes on special relevance during periods of war. The Hazon Ish, Rav Avraham Yeshaya Korelitz, ruled for his community in B'nei Brak in 1948 - at the time of the Israeli War of Independence when the situation was far more precarious than it is today - that it was forbidden to leave, since to do so would be to weaken the morale and the fabric of the settlement (yishuv) in Israel. Clearly the same principle holds true today - when we are once again waging a continuation of the War of Independence for our very existence as a State.

As far as the Jews of the diaspora are concerned: I would hope that many Jews would opt to join us on the front lines of battle - for, indeed, this terrorist enemy has turned our homes and roads into battle-fields. After all, as the vulnerability of European (especially French) Jewry demonstrates, we are fighting this war not only for ourselves and our children but also for world Jewry and even for the entire free world standing up against terror. But if permanent aliyah is impossible, at least don't isolate us and lower our economy by giving up on "periodic" aliyah, your regular annual visitations. If for you Israel is kosher Disney-land, then you need only visit in times of sun and fun; but if Israel is Mother-land, you must increase your visits to your mother when she is vulnerable and under attack! And if you would ordinarily have sent a son or a daughter to study or to camp in Israel, you must continue to do so even in times of danger. To do less would be to abandon your responsibility as a Jew by weakening our settlement in Israel and by granting a morale victory to those who would destroy us!

Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach.

Return to Ohr Torah Stone